On Tue, 9 May 2006 15:02:22 +0100, Scotty22 wrote
(in message ):

Grow some bramble bushes inside the bush your trying to protect, and
enjoy the benefits of rasberries/blackberries and protection for your
bush. Just keep in under control

These are very nasty things if you collide with one unexpectedly! I recently
had to deal with a very tenacious yet totally dead and dried out bramble
branch that had been this way for some time- I got caught uip in it before I
realised what it was. These do not need to be alive to be nasty- the thorns
seem to work perfectly for a long time afterwards- probably until the whole
thing eventually rots and falls apart- which could take a long time. The
drying out means a dead branch gets a lot thinner and less dangerous-looking,
but it stays quite strong and stringy nevertheless. If someone put something
like this inside the front of a hedge, the hooking action of the thorns means
they would probably stay in place for a while- and if it ever arises one
could claim somebody must have put them there. I'm wondering about this whole
area myself as I have a young rose hedge and may need to consider a fence to
go in front of that. It has belatedly occurred to me that some totally
innocent little kid could get pushed into it, and that bothers me.
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